Establishing a baseline: Documenting how Ecological Concepts are Represented in Children’s Books

Background

Children’s books are important for education, because they have the potential to simultaneously inform and inspire, and they can do so in exemplary multidisciplinary ways. However, adults and children alike are at risk of being ecologically misinformed inadvertently by children’s books (Ganea et al 2014, Owens 2003).

Yet, teachers working with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are expected to use interdisciplinary materials such as children’s books to teach about ecological concepts (NGSS 2013).